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Cyber Security Summer School - building a digitally-secure future

28. june 2016

From July 3-8, the International Cyber Security Summer School for doctoral students and junior researchers will be held at the Estonian IT College in Tallinn. The Summer School will focus on the relationship between digital technology and forensic science and how the two fields are inter-related from the legal perspective - "Digital Forensics — Technology and Law".

The Summer School will bring together experts and practitioners from all over the world, whose day-to-day work involves an integration of both fields: information technology and law. During the course of the week students will hear presentations from top experts in their fields, take part in discussions, as well as participate in a practical assignment: the collection of evidence and its use in court proceedings.

“The objective in creating the Cyber Security Summer School was to elevate Estonia’s reputation as a nation that has a focus on higher education and scientific development in the field of cyber security”, says the Director of the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA), Erki Urva. “Last year when we organised the Summer School it was very easy to get top international experts to agree to come – everyone wanted to come. They even said that soon it will be embarrassing for a professional in this field to say that he or she has not been in Estonia”, he added.

This year, the Summer School focuses on digital forensics – a subject which combines a variety of technical and legal issues from the areas of digital evidence, identity, authentication and security. One of the world's most recognised specialists in digital forensics, Stephen Mason, is leading the legal component of the Summer School. Together with Hein Dries-Ziekenheiner, Olaf Maennel and Helen Eenmaa-Dimitrieva they have designed a comprehensive, technically-demanding case study for the summer school, which the student teams will be working on throughout the week in order to present their cases in a court setting at the end of the week.

The Cyber Security Summer School 2016 creates an environment full of ideas, experiences and enthusiasm for what participating lawyers and techies can accomplish together. Organisers want these ideas, experiences and the enthusiasm to spread around the world. The recognised speakers and mentors - as well as the participants coming from all over the world - will definitely help them to achieve this goal.

This intensive study week is made possible through the collaboration of the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA), University of Tartu, the Tallinn University of Technology and the University of Adelaide, Australia. The Summer School is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

This article was published in the Life in Estonia magazine (summer, 2016)